Interest Groups Paul Johnson Dept. of Political Science, University of Kansas Outline Outline Table of Contents Section 1 This is my "thing" Graduate School * To get a PhD, you have to have a research topic & method * My topic: voluntary membership organizations * So there's some danger I make this 1) too detailed and 2) too boring :) What's the motivation? * Question 1: Why are some points of view represented by wealthy, large organizations, while some are not? * Question 2: If "pressure politics" is everywhere, why can't political scientists find it? Method: How to study this? * Individual choice * Figure out why: - People form organizations - People join organizations - People in organizations do things Section 2 The Collective Action Problem Collective Action Problem * Mancur Olson, Logic of Collective Action (1965) * Free-rider problem: - benefits of political action are often collective: nonexcludable: (A law that passes applies to everyone) - individuals won't contribute unless they think their donation has an impact on the collective (nonexcludable) good - hence, temptation to "free-ride" * Olson ridiculed centuries of political theorists, who mistakenly thought that organizations ("interest groups") form because people hold "shared interests" Focus turns to organizations * Organizations recruit members * Selective benefits: excludable things organizations can sell to members - material benefits: magazines, t-shirts, back-packs - solidary benefits: social activities, gatherings, friendships - expressive benefits: chance to "speak out" * My PhD advisor: Robert Salisbury, Exchange Theory of Interest Groups, Midwest Journal of Political Science (1969) Labor Organizations Labor facts * Unions were illegal until 1935 * There are more than 120 national unions in the US * Aggregate Membership peaked 1957, declining since (16 million) * Associations of Unions Labor Recruiting * Why do people join labor unions? * Olson said: social pressure, threats of violence, closed shops * Add excludable benefits (health care, credit cards, etc) Environmental organizations Environmental recruiting * Low cost: $25 dollars * Benefits: - material benefits: magazine - credit cards, backpacks & windbreakers feature "logos" - special enticements for "new members" * major problem: getting members to renew Direct mail treadwheel * Direct mail recruiting prevalent * Response rate: typically 2% or less * Renewal rate of 1st year members: less than 50% * Constant pressure to - retain existing members whenever possible - bring in new dues-paying members Professional associations PAs different from Labor Unions * Some unions call themselves professional associations (just to confuse POLS110 students) * Key difference: Unions negotiate wages, PAs do not! * PAs typically "educate" and "socialize" members * Some state laws prop up PAs Trade (Business) Associations TA & BF * Trade Association: membership organization of businesses in an industry or "trade" * Business Federation: organization of businesses in a variety of trades Section 3 Political Action Varieties of Lobbying * Direct lobbying: Hire a lobbyist or do it yourself - Primarily aimed at Congress - Exec & Judicial branches don't allow the same sort of access * Grassroots Lobbying: Activate members to contact their politicians * Exec Branch: participate in "rule making" and "adjudication" * Courts: File a lawsuit or amicus brief Electoral Activity * Mobilize member voters * Advertise & contact (even nonmembers) * Raise funds and donate (PAC) Political Action Committees: * Legal Definition: separate segregated fund of voluntary contributions * CANNOT contribute from corporate treasury * CAN pay expenses of PAC administration & fund raising - big advantage for "affiliated PACs" FEC.gov House records available 2 year period 2009-2010 House candidates raised $1,101 million, $313 million from PACs +--------+------------+------------------+-----------------+----------------+ | Party | Amount/ | N of candidates | | | +--------+------------+------------------+-----------------+----------------+ +--------+------------+------------------+-----------------+----------------+ | | PAC-Incum | PAC-Challen | PAC-Open Seats | Total Spending | +--------+------------+------------------+-----------------+----------------+ | Dem | $170M/242 | $6.1M/408 | $7.96M/153 | $510,244M | +--------+------------+------------------+-----------------+----------------+ | Repub | $92M/161 | $23M/1026 | $12.7M/252 | $588,224M | +--------+------------+------------------+-----------------+----------------+ Note: "other" parties omitted http://www.fec.gov/press/2010_Full_summary_Data.shtml Where's the PAC money? * Individual donors: 2/3 of all money raised * PACS love incumbents! * Combine House & Senate, both parties - PACs give 24% of all funds ($187M/$799M) - PACs invest in ∗ Incumbents: $311M ∗ Open Seats: $51M ∗ Challengers Ignored: $40M total from PACs Here's a big puzzle * Journalists talk about "pressure groups" and corruption * Statistically, there's no correlation between campaign donations and roll call votes. * Why? More Groups, Less Clout (RHS) * Steadily rising number of organizations, lobbyists, and efforts at influence * They are - negating each other - drowning each other out * Organizations need to monitor politics, even if they can't change it Look at it from MCs point of view * MCs want to get reelected * Won't anger voters for $5000 from a PAC * Skeptical of - positions taken by organizational lobbyists - electoral threats of organizations * Some counterexamples worth further study: NRA Hit and Miss proposition * Organizations "buy" access * Provide information to legislators * Information may influence decisions of a small fraction of legislators * Studies don't find influence because cases of influence are " washed out" by larger number of "noninfluences" What do I really think? * Organizations monitor politics carefully * Politicians know this, so they "stay away" from trouble spots * Demosclerosis: Organizations accumulate and block political change Theory of CA killed Marxism * Marx's argument assumed collective action would occur * "revolution of proletariat" and "ruling class" presupposed collective action would occur when shared interests exist Theory of CA makes free market work * Businesses have collective interest in charging more * Can't effectively coordinate because of free-rider problem * Consumers protected by free-rider problem among sellers